Hogwarts Eagle
by MelissaGraceWrites
Summary: Cho Chang has finally entered her fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The prospect of the Triwizard Tournament being hosted at the school is both exciting and frightening. Undoubtedly this year, like all others, is destined to be mingled with some kind of terror and this time, Cho's life is about to be forever altered. Eventual Cho/Harry.
1. Mind Of A Ravenclaw

_My name is Layla Stark, the author of The Hogwarts Eagle. _

_For a long time, I've been drawn to the character Cho Chang. Though often hated by most people I met, I found her quite intriguing. Possibly, that was because we know so little about her which gives us the chance to make out own history about her. Since 2008, I've desperately wanted to write a story exploring her life in a little more detail and (as I would have preferred it) what would have happened if Harry Potter had successfully asked her to the Yule Ball. That became the intent of the story, but as you can see I was a little delayed in actually publishing it. It's nearing the end of 2012 and only now have I gotten around to writing it. _

_Of course, I knew that I couldn't have been the only person out there to have written a story exploring what would happen if Harry has successfully asked her to the Yule Ball. I wasn't surprised to find that there was already an extremely well written story out there. I would like to thank Lord Akiyama for giving me permission to write this. My story will in no way be anywhere near as good as their's for upon starting to read it, I've come to love it. So, while I'm here, I have no intent to copy the writer's work and I'm very appreciative they're letting me write this. _

_With all that being said, of course, I should mention that I don't own anything related to Harry Potter. I am, quite simply, an avid fan of the series (particularly Sirius Black, but there's a story for another day). I hope that the few of you who read this enjoy my work. While I do not expect reviews, I'm happy to receive constructive criticism As I plan to one day publish my own works, advice would be much appreciated if you do have any suggestions._

_Spread Love,_

_LS  
x. _

* * *

**THE HOGWARTS EAGLE**

_- Chapter One: Mind Of A Ravenclaw - _

* * *

The evening brought with it a faint glow of sunlight that illuminated the small compartment. Hours has passed by since the train first rattled into life, taking its occupants far away from the comforts of their households and into a world quite unlike anything else. For Cho Chang, there remained something indisputably thrilling about the journey back to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, for the atmosphere always buzzed with copious amounts of energy. Nervous first years spoke with a distinct quaver in their voices as they discussed the endless possibilities of what rested ahead of them with their newly formed friends. On the other hand, the older students were either elated at the prospect of returning to the castle once more or they dreaded the intense examinations that surely rested ahead of them.

'You're doing it again, Cho,' whispered a voice in her ear and, blinking, she looked up and gazed at Marietta Edgecombe. Hidden behind her waves of reddish-blonde hair was a concerned expression.

There was little need for Cho to ask what her friend was talking about. In an instant, she snapped the _Daily Prophet _in front of her face and frowned while she pretended to be intrigued by the article. Or at least, it would have worked if she hadn't dropped the newspaper onto the floor in her haste.

'I don't know what you're talking about,' Cho insisted and rushed to scoop up the pages from the floor, but already a shoe promptly landed on top of it and kicked it out of reach. She frowned and made to look as though there was something fascinating about the button on her bag instead but try as she might, even she could not suppress the grin that crept upon her expression.

'Oh!' Lucinda Logan chirruped across from her. 'Did something happen with Cedric Diggory?'

'I've told you already, we're just friends,' Cho said, but it already seemed to be much too late, for every girl in the compartment halted what they were doing to join in on the conversation. Isabella, who had been playing with a joyful new kitten, now absentmindedly scratched behind its ears and listened intently. Next to her was Mia who blotched ink all over a letter to her boyfriend in time to hear what was said. Seconds ago, Pattie had been on the verge of sleep but now appeared wide awake as she stared eagerly at Cho. As more of the girls looked up expectantly, Cho sunk into her seat and wished somebody could find something else worthy of discussion.

'Let's get something clear,' Marietta started slowly. 'You have to be realistic about this. You're Cho Chang, possibly Ravenclaw's most popular student, not to mention our Quidditch team's seeker. Then, there's Cedric, Hufflepuff seeker and also extremely popular. He's also awfully handsome. It's not like there's any point in denying that he likes you. The boy is crazy about you, so why not just go for it while you still can?'

'He's just being nice,' Cho said. 'You know how he is. Cedric gets along with everyone.'

'Just like Harry Potter spills water all over himself whenever he sees a girl?' Lucinda giggled and in an instant, the occupants of the compartment turned their attention towards her. 'That's right. At the Quidditch World Cup. I saw it happen. He turned to a puddle of goo the moment he looked at Cho.'

There was a chorus of giggles and Cho blushed furiously, wracking her brain for a possible change of conversation. She knew the attempt would be futile. If she mentioned what could possibly be so special about Hogwarts this year, the conversation would end too quickly. They had already eagerly discussed the topic of what the Ministry of Magic had planned so much that there was nothing more to say about it without repeating themselves one too many times. The hooded figures at the Quidditch World Cup also seemed out of the option, since a few of the girls were of Muggle descent and preferred not to think about it. It seemed that not all was lost though, for somebody chose that exact moment to slide open the compartment door.

'Hello,' said a dreamy voice that if anything made no amendments to the situation. When everyone turned to face their guest, a larger fit of giggles exploded. 'You can laugh now, but when the Wigglypinks get annoyed at you for doing it, you'll be sorry for it.'

'Why's that, Luna?' Cho asked, seizing the opportunity for a change of subject before the girl with dirty blonde hair could depart. This seemed to wipe the slightly exasperated expression from Luna Lovegood, who looked relaxed at the mere prospect of explaining herself. Before she could start though, Cho shot a glare at her friends that silenced them immediately.

'Oh, Wigglypinks like the quiet,' Luna explained. 'My father told me that laughter's their greatest enemy. They've been known to murder when highly disturbed and I'm positive some of them have been let loose on the train.'

'There's no such thing as Wigglypinks, Looney,' Marietta said scathingly and rolled her eyes at the younger girl. 'And not to be mean or anything, but shouldn't you be hanging around with people your own age? You can go now. Please. Actually, that's an order.'

'Not to worry. I had no intention of staying. This compartment's crawling with Wigglypinks.' As if to prove her point, Luna sidestepped into the corridor to ensure her safety and said, 'I just thought I ought to tell you we'll be arriving shortly.'

With that, Luna skipped out of view quite merrily, obviously not bothered by the less than warm welcoming she had received. The group of Ravenclaws allowed themselves a few more moments to laugh, murmuring in agreement that the third year girl was blatantly out of her mind. Then, even though it would be a long time before the topic of Cedric and Harry would truly be forgotten, proceeded to change into their robes. It didn't take them long to get changed but by the time they had, darkness loomed outside and a light rain pattered against the window. The weather seemed almost foreboding, as though it indicated a melancholic beginning of the year. At that particular thought, Cho was pleased to be in the company of her friends.

Despite longing to stay with her Marietta and the rest of the girls, Cho reluctantly picked up her belongings and offered her words of farewell to her friends for the time being. The holidays, despite being riddled with fear after the Quidditch World Cup, had ended with a pleasant surprise when in the mail she had received her Prefects badge. She told herself that the position had been unexpected, but when her friends discovered that she had acquired the role, not even a trace of shock flickered on their expression. To them, it was just another reason to be enormously pleased with their friend.

She made her way towards the Prefect's compartment as quickly as she could, having been instructed she would be required to help other students off the train in an orderly fashion. Though it was true that she had arrived well before she was supposed to, Cho was greeted by one of the Slytherin prefects who instantly demanded that she should begin rounding up the first years and quit lazing around. With no desire to argue, she did precisely as she was told, feeling that a sufficient meal and bedtime was far away from her.

* * *

_**September 1**__**st**__**, 1994**_

_My name is Cho and this is the beginning of my fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry._

_I arrived at Hogwarts well over an hour and a half ago and I've already been quite well fed. The food was delicious as always, though now I'm extremely tired. To be honest, I never realised just how much I've missed my friends (who still insist that Cedric and I are more than friends—urgh) and Hogwarts._

_Oh, and we've finally found out what's so special about Hogwarts this year. Apparently, Hogwarts is going to be hosting the Triwizard Tournament, which we're told hasn't been around for years. Needless to say, I'm glad that we under seventeen can't enter. I don't know what I'll do if one of my friends were to have entered, though I know Cedric will. _

_Here's hoping the Triwizard Tournament isn't as dangerous as they say._

* * *

'Come on,' somebody whispered into her ear but Cho, in a haze of exhaustion, merely rolled over and continued to sleep. 'Cho, you have to wake up.'

'What is it?' she mumbled, but remained unwilling to listen. Instead, she lazily seized her pillow and threw it over her head.

'Wake up, Cho!'

This time, there was no chance for her to protest. Her unwelcome visitor took hold of her arm with a vicelike grip and with very little effort hauled her out of the bed. Cho fell to the floor with a thud. Much to her chagrin, her head collided with the bedside table and in an instant she felt it throb painfully. The commotion in the dormitory caused every girl to wake up, identical looks of displeasure shining on all of their expressions. There seemed to be no point in trying to sleep again now, though the desire to throw her pillow at Marietta's face was unsurprisingly overpowering.

'What do you want now, Marietta?' she asked indignantly, but that emotion faded when she caught the expression of her friend through tired eyes. To say the very least, remorse engulfed Marietta's face and judging by the bitter air that wafter around her, she had held no desire to wake Cho up.

'You have Quidditch practice,' Marietta said.

'Quidditch?' Cho's brows knitted together. 'But Professor Dumbledore said that there's no Cup this year because of the Triwizard Tournament.'

'I know that,' Marietta huffed as she sat down on the edge of Cho's bed, fuming. 'I can guarantee you that I gave Roger a decent shouting at, but no. He insists that if Ravenclaw wants to place first next year, then the team needs all the practice it can get. Starting now.'

'Well, Roger's going to have to make do without me,' Cho decided as she pulled herself back onto her bed. 'It's the first day back and classes haven't even started yet. I don't see the point of attending practicing something we won't even be playing for this year. There's no way he can force us to do something so pointless. It's just ridiculous.'

'Cho,' Marietta said softly, though the exasperation at Roger was still in her voice. 'He's really annoyed at you. I don't know how, but he's managed to convince the rest of the team to go down to the Quidditch pitch. I'm sorry, but I don't think you should keep him waiting.'

'You're impossible,' Cho hissed, but nevertheless chose to reluctantly give in. She shot upwards and started to extract her Quidditch robes from her suitcase. 'One minute you're defending me and the next, you're telling me I should do what Roger says. What's gotten into you?'

Marietta simply shrugged her shoulders.

As Cho pulled on the last of her uniform for Quidditch, her frustration at having been woken up at an unholy hour in the morning, coupled with the prospect of continuing on with practice, eventually faded. She offered a hasty goodbye and a promise that they would see one another later to Marietta who went back to bed as she left. Cho made her way out of her dormitory and through the corridor, the need to play Quidditch once more both sudden and yet expected. Over the summer, she had come to miss playing Quidditch. It was in her fourth year that she had acquired the position of the Ravenclaw seeker, making her the only female in the entire team.

Though people had been friendly to her before she had made the team, afterwards had been a completely different story. For one, many more boys went out of their way to talk to her, though most of those conversations were about Quidditch. Why that was the case, she was unsure but at the very least she knew that Marietta had at least twelve theories why—all of which, no doubt, were immature to cringing point. There was once a time when she preferred to keep to her Ravenclaw friends all of the time, but now people from Gryffindor and especially Hufflepuff made the effort to talk to her. The Slytherins, on the other hand, continued to shoot nasty glares at her though why, she did not know. Cho had never argued with anybody from that house. She had played a memorable match against the Boy Who Lived a few months ago and now, she had somehow become close friends with Cedric Diggory. Her lips tugged upwards at the corners into a smile. Her life had been peaceful before she had tried out for the Ravenclaw team, never expecting that she would be awarded the position, but now she had received more than she had ever asked for.

Yet Cho did not admire being on the team simply for the admiration she had gained. In many ways, that type of popularity was both a blessing and a curse. If she ever did something that upset at least one person, then people disapproved of her completely for days. No argument she put forth could have amended that. Sometimes it felt as though there was barely an opportunity for her to breathe and the thought that she was always doing everything for somebody else rather than herself disheartened her. Grateful though she was for the friendships that had stemmed from Quidditch, the reason she enjoyed being on the team was simply because Quidditch was fun. There was a thrilling sensation involved with gathering speed and soaring through the air like an eagle. The delight that followed clasping the walnut sized snitch was indescribable, but winning the game and cheering until her voice was hoarse was by far the greatest sensation of them all.

'What took you so long, Cho?'

Cho jumped, startled about having been unexpectedly addressed in a irritable tone of voice. She'd wandered to the Great Hall, where the Ravenclaw team sat wearing robes of blue while they shovelled breakfast into their mouths. She offered Roger a tentative smile.

'I'm sorry,' Cho said as she took her seat beside Jeremy Stretton and Duncan Inglebee. 'Marietta only just told me that we had practice. Speaking of which, how did she know about that before I did?'

'Oh, that's nothing,' Roger insisted, dismissing the thought with a wave of a hand as he passed Cho the coffee. 'Hurry up, will you? We want to get down to the pitch as soon as we can.'

Cho did precisely as she was told; she scooped fruit into her bowl and poured coffee into an empty mug. While she ate and sipped as rapidly as she could without bringing on indigestion, Cho listened to her teammates discussing tactics for Quidditch next year. As they joked about subtly knocking other teams off their brooms, or jinxing the snitch so it was caught by their side as soon as the game started, or even disguising their own members in red, yellow or green robes. Cho couldn't help but laugh at their schemes, all of which they knew were impossible and would have them disqualified from every match. It may have been far too early in the morning for anyone else to consider being wide awake, but the thought that she was back amongst her Quidditch team where she belonged, dreaming about one day winning the Cup, urged her to join in on their shared euphoria.

* * *

That day seemed to have rapidly disappeared into nightfall. The Quidditch practice hadn't gone entirely as Roger Davies had planned. It was found that with the excitement of the Quidditch World Cup, not one of them had thought to spend at the very least a few hours on their own broomsticks. Everybody was much too busy supporting Ireland and Bulgaria to care, or else they had dedicated their holidays to visiting friends. Roger had punished them by giving them a cold shoulder and demanding that that they all woke up early every morning to practice—but halfway through that speech, Peeves had chosen to attack the team with ketchup, leaving them covered in the sticky red sauce. Roger had stormed off instantly, too horrified to speak as the team chortled at him.

The weekend had also slipped by faster than what could possibly have been deemed fair. Classes were expected to start on Monday and the fifth years dreaded the upcoming O. , which they were sure meant that their workload was to be colossal. Cho could have sworn she overheard a couple of Gryffindor students scheming to ask Professor McGonogall to cancel the examinations, what with the Triwizard Tournament that would take up the year. When they had tried, however, all they had managed to achieve a stern berating that they should consider themselves lucky that the Triwizard Tournament would provide them with a longer than necessary break from their studies. After that, nobody dared to so much as think about convincing the teachers to cancel the O.W.L.s.

By Sunday afternoon, many of the Ravenclaw fifth years had already plunged into studying their books, taking notes on what they thought might be necessary. Cho, who although had flicked through her notes from previous years during the summer holidays and had even managed to peruse the pages of her textbooks not long after that had been purchased, chose to join her hardworking friends in the common room. The sound of quills scratching against the parchment soothed her but after two hours of working, Cho closed her book and opted to spend what little time she had left of the day down by the lake.

It was quite secluded when she arrived. A small handful of younger students sat far across from her, poking their fingers in the water presumably to play with the giant squid. A few minutes of silence passed by as Cho closed her eyes, soaking up the last moments of relaxation she would be entitled to this year, but the sound approaching footsteps made her look up.

'Hi Cedric,' she greeted, beaming up at her friend. It was the first time she had seen the young Diggory since school had started, for Cho wasn't often alone. When she wasn't accompanied by a group of what was possibly slightly intimidating Ravenclaw girls, then she was joined by her Quidditch team or other people who wanted to speak to her for whatever reason. There hadn't yet been a chance to talk to Cedric up until this very point in time. 'Shouldn't you be with your Hufflepuff friends?'

'If I knew my presence wasn't welcome, I wouldn't have come,' he said, but the grin on his face told her that he knew it was all playful. He sat down impossibly close to her and rested his head against the rock nearby. 'Had a good summer?'

'Yeah,' she said. 'It was lovely. And the Quidditch World Cup was lots of fun, too.'

'Fun?' he asked, raising his eyebrows. 'Weren't you scared of the Death Eaters?'

'Death Eaters?'

'They're supposedly You-Know-Who's followers,' Cedric explained. 'Dad told me they were those people who invaded the Quidditch World Cup at the end. Hasn't your mother told you that?'

'Oh. No, she hasn't had the chance to.' Cho considered this for a moment and frowned. 'Well, obviously I was scared at the time, but I didn't think it was anything that serious. Now that you put it that way, I hope my brother and father are alright.'

'They are,' he offered with a reassuring smile. At Cho's quizzical look, he went on. 'We would have heard if there'd been any other attacks like that. It was all a bit out of the blue though, if you ask me. Completely wrong, mind you, just stirring up a bit of disaster when there were thousands of witches and wizards around. Besides, your mother would have told you if anything happened to the rest of your family.'

'I guess you're right,' Cho conceded, grateful as ever for his words of reassurance. 'How was your summer, by the way?'

'It was great,' Cedric smiled up at her once more, stretching comfortably onto the grass as he did so. 'Especially that part when I saw you at the match.'

Cho blushed furiously at his words and turned away, hoping that he wouldn't notice. '_You_. Stop that,' she giggled despite herself. 'It'll be enough to get my friends talking.'

'Your group of girls?' Cedric chuckled. 'Do they know I'm down here with you?'

'Well…' Cho looked up at the sky, gathering that they had delved deeper into the afternoon. 'I'm sure they'll figure it out when if I'm not back in five minutes. You know how they are. The first thing they'll ask me when I'm back is how you're going.'

'Really now?' Cedric looked amused. 'Are they still convinced that you and I are dating?'

'Yes,' she rolled her eyes, trying to sound frustrated, but all she could muster in her tone was a hint that the suggestion had entertained her—and perhaps, somewhere deep down where she did not know, just a trace of hope.

'So, tell me,' Cedric started, propping his head up on his hand. 'Are you planning on entering the Triwizard Tournament?'

'Me?' A horrified look crossed her at the thought. 'Of course not! Are you crazy? I'm not allowed to and I doubt I'd survive for five minutes. Are you?'

'Give yourself more credit than that. I'm sure you'd do fine,' Cedric said. 'But yes, I'm planning on entering.'

The excited sensation that had developed inside her at being in the company of Cedric quickly dissolved as her suspicions had been confirmed. She knew that it would come to this, for there was no denying that Cedric had the courage akin to a Gryffindor. Longing though she was to advise against him entering, she forced a look of pride on her face. There was no way she could possibly let him down by confessing that she was worried he might hurt himself. Still, she hoped that perhaps another Hogwarts student would be chosen rather than her friend.

'Well, good luck with that,' she said, but her tone sounded much too gleeful than she had intended. 'Do you think you'll get it?'

'I can only hope, but I doubt it,' the boy confessed. 'I've heard that there's a lot of younger students planning to enter. Your Quidditch Captain, included.'

'Roger's entering?' Cho laughed at the thought, but shook her head. 'Dumbledore's too intelligent for him, even if Roger's a Ravenclaw. I doubt any underage students will be able to enter.'

'Well, that's good,' he said after a momentary pause.

'Because you'll stand a better chance of getting in?'

'Because it means you won't enter,' Cedric amended. 'I'd hate to see you get hurt.'

'Cedric, you know that I wouldn't even if I could,' she admitted with a reassuring pat on his arm. 'Remember when Professor Lupin was here? He realised that our class hadn't been taught how to fight off Boggarts at that point because Professor Lockhart was too busy seeing who could do the best impersonation of him. I could barely manage fighting off the Boggart and don't even get me started on how terribly I imitated Lockhart. The Triwizard Tournament would do me more harm than good.'

'Not to mention,' Cedric began in an attempt to lighten the conversation, 'Roger would probably kill you if you put your life at risk like that. You're the seeker, after all.'

'That's true,' Cho nodded and just as quickly as the fear of Cedric entering had overwhelmed her, it faded away. Any worries she ever had, in fact, seemed to be in the distant past.

They spent the rest of that afternoon together in one another's company, wondering what the Triwizard Tournament could possibly involve, discussing the Quidditch World Cup, bickering playfully about who would receive the most house points this year out of Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff and dreading about the beginning of school tomorrow. The second that Cho mentioned that she had been worried about her O. which would take place towards the middle of next year, Cedric had kindly offered her assistance. They sat by the lake for half an hour as he taught her as many spells he could have possibly remembered and even offered her a study tip or two. It was only after the sunlight threatened to disappear when they decided that it was time to end the day.

'It's getting late,' Cedric pointed out. At that point, Cho's stomach let out an involuntary rumble. 'And you're hungry.'

'So it seems,' Cho giggled and pulled herself upright, but found that she had no desire to leave in spite of her growing hunger. 'We should make our way back up to the castle.'

'Yeah,' he agreed and before either of them protest, he stood up and held out a hand to help her. 'If you'd like, I can tutor you so you can be sure to pass your O.W.L.s.'

'I'd like that,' she said smiling. 'As long as you focus on your exams more. Yours are probably more important than mine, after all.'

'Don't worry,' he assured. 'I'll be fine. Let's go and eat.'

Together, they made their way towards the castle in a blissful silence. Cho noticed that every now and then, the two bumped into each other, chuckled awkwardly and continued to walk. She assumed it meant nothing, coming to the conclusion that Cedric had the habit of being affectionate with his friends.

It didn't take them long to reach their destination, but as soon as they did, they were greeted with an explosion of pleasant scents. The feast had obviously started and students were slowly but surely filing into the Great Hall. Before too long had passed, Cedric and Cho were separated by the crowd and there was no time to say goodnight to one another. Disappointed that their time together was cut short, Cho made her way towards the Ravenclaw table. It was there that she was met by her friends, all of whom had their heads together and were giggling rather furiously. She knew without asking why and as soon as she sat down, Cho was bombarded with questions.

'How was he, Cho?'

'Did he ask you out?'

'What did you say?'

'She said yes, of course!'

'Is he your boyfriend now?'

'When's your first date?'

'Did you kiss?'

'Oh my Hippogriff!'

'Of course they did!'

'What was it like?'

Cho forced nonchalance to linger on her expression as she pretended she had not heard a single word her friends has spoken. With a smile on her expression that suggested she was partially unaware of their presence, she pulled the pot of soup towards her and ladled its contents into her bowl.

'I'm starving. The food smells delicious tonight,' she noted, much to the dismay of her friends, who proceeded to poke her and hiss furiously at her in the hopes that she might have gossip for them to engage in deep into the night. She didn't have anything of interest to say, however, and allowed herself to keep on serving her food.

But when Cho looked up for just a second, she stopped what she was doing and her heart skipped a beat. Across the hall, and completely abandoning the food on his plate, Harry Potter was looking at her. When he seemed to realise that she had noticed this, he smiled nervously but brightly all the same.

Cho could feel his eyes on her for the rest of the meal.


	2. Unresolved Tension

_My name is Layla Stark, the author of The Hogwarts Eagle._

_It's been quite a busy week but I wanted to get this up before the weekend. I'm very close to the end of my school life. Actually, I'll be graduating high school in fourteen days and I'm very much looking forward to it. With that being said, I haven't been able to put in as much effort to this chapter as I would have liked. I can't promise when this will be updated next (though I'll try my best not to keep you all waiting too long). Chances are, it won't be updated by next weekend since I'll be meeting Eoin Macken, Tom Hopper and Rupert Young from Merlin._

_All that out of the way, thank you so much to the people who read, reviewed, followed, favourited and so on forth-ed the first chapter of my story. I am extremely grateful for the support and it's because of you that I'm encouraged to keep on writing this. Words can't even begin to describe how grateful I am._

_Spread Love,_

_LS  
x._

* * *

**THE HOGWARTS EAGLE**

_- Chapter Two: Unresolved Tension -_

* * *

It was with quite the unsurprisingly morose moods that the fifth years had delved into their studies for the approaching months. The clouds outside were a dull grey that served simply to add to the melancholic atmosphere. Although she had doubtlessly expected that the work they were presented with this year would be a powerful challenge to overcome, Cho was far more unimpressed to have discovered it to be indescribably complex as well. On her first day of classes, every teacher had insisted on presenting the Ravenclaws and students from the other houses with an enormous mountain of homework. According to Professor Flitwick, the Head of her own House, it was a necessary precaution to provide them with copious amounts of work lest they were to be too distracted by the Triwizard Tournament.

'This is absolutely ridiculous,' Marietta groaned as she stormed down the staircase, knocking aside innocent students who dared to cross her pathway. 'It's not like we're going to completely abandon our work just for the Triwizard Tournament or anything. Personally, I'm not a big fan of petty games that can potentially result in loss of limbs. And so help us all, we have Potions next. If we're not dead by the end of the week, I'll be surprised.'

'You'll be fine, Marietta,' Cho promised, but in retrospect her tone was not quite as convincing as she had intended upon. Although she had not taken the receiving of intense homework quite as hard as her friend, even Cho had admitted that she was worried at the prospect of possible failure. 'I'm sure that the teachers just want the best for all of us. And if you don't manage to pull out a handful of Outstandings, then the whole year level will be in danger.'

'Yeah? You might think that now, but unlike you I don't have Cedric Oh-So-Pretty Diggory tutoring me day after day,' Marietta snapped but out of the corner of her eye, Cho could have sworn she saw her friend struggle to fight off a potentially devious smile.

'That's not true,' Cho replied. 'I've haven't had the chance to talk to Cedric since Sunday. He's busy with his own work too, remember. At this rate, there'll be no time for him to tutor me.'

'Yeah, but your darling little chivalrous Cedric's going to go out of his way to spend time with you, anyway,' Marietta mumbled.

They spent the remainder of their journey to the Dungeons in utter silence, both of them noticeably concerned about what awaited them in Professor Snape's class. As they plunged down to the lowest level of the school, the memorable drop in temperature urged a shiver to travel down Cho's spine. There was no point in denying her admiration for Hogwarts, but she like plenty of other students had come to loathe the prospect of so much as having Potions on her timetable. If anything, she longed for the year to speed by for she knew that after this, she would never have to endure the humiliation of having countless points deducted from Ravenclaw on her behalf ever again. Her unfriendly thoughts about Potions did not last long, however. As soon as she stepped inside the classroom, where Snape stood threateningly in the dark at the front, she forced any ill will for the teacher out of her mind.

The fear that had intensified amongst the fifth year Ravenclaws whenever they were in the presence of Professor Snape was not entirely uncalled for. It was Luna who had warned them of Limpkins, which were small creatures that could read the minds of young witches and wizards. Allegedly, if one was to think anything nasty about another person, the creatures the rushed to inform the subject of their cruel thoughts instantly, resulting in a reign of pure terror. When Lucinda had apparently been plotting in her head a list of the possible ways to have Snape sacked, minutes later the Professor had coldheartedly presented her with a detention.

'You must each take out your books and turn to page two hundred and thirty-five immediately,' the drawling voice of Snape instructed from the start of the room as he whipped out his wand. Instructions for the lessons appeared on the board as he waved it mindlessly. 'We will be beginning with one of the simpler potions that I can guarantee you will appear in your examinations next year. Anything less than exceeding expectations today will result in extra homework for each and every one of you throughout the year.'

Cho, despite her struggle to remain silent, emitted a sharp gasp the moment that she had delicately turned to the page. If she had longed to pass her Potions examination before, any hope of doing so subsided instantly. The method on how to concoct the Draught of Peace occupied more than a page. Warnings were presented at various points, informing the reader that any mistake in making the potion would result in nothing less than severely dangerous outcomes. Uncaring if he caught her, Cho looked upwards and eyed Snape with a mixture of disdain and suspicion.

'Do you think he's going to make us test out our potions?' Isabella asked beside her, clearly sharing similar thoughts. There was a distinct sound of fret in her tone.

'Like I said,' Marietta cut in before she could respond. 'I'll be surprised if we're not dead by the end of the week. But if we're going to die, you are going to tell us how things are going with your boyfriend aren't you, Cho?'

'I've told you before,' Cho started firmly, careful to measure the precise amount of the syrup of hellebore, 'Harry isn't my boyfriend.'

'Harry?' Marietta nearly shrieked with what could have been joy and horror, but stuffed a hand over her mouth. 'Harry Potter? You're thinking about Harry Potter? But I was talking about Cedric. Is there something going on between you and Harry now?'

'No, there isn't. He just came into my mind because… well, because…' but Cho trailed off, both in desire to concentrate on crushing the moonstone into a fine powder and because she was at a loss for any excuse. Why Harry, who she had barely spoken to in her life, had popped into her mind was a mystery to her.

'She was thinking about Harry because Snape mentioned how terrible he is at Potions, remember?' Isabella supplied thoughtfully and Cho instantly offered her friend an overly appreciative smile.

'Yeah, that's right,' Marietta agreed as realisation apparently dawned on her face. 'He told us that in way back in our second year, just to let us all know how even famous people can fail his subjects. You'll need a better excuse than that.'

Any chance to defend herself, or indeed to continue the conversation at all, was lost when the figure of Snape loomed over them. Cho let out an involuntary shudder at his presence and one that she regretted instantly at that.

'Miss Edgecombe, twenty points from Ravenclaw for the addition of bat spleens into your cauldron. Nowhere does it state that they are a necessary ingredient. The result of adding them will be fatal to whoever has the misfortune to drink this. Miss Chang and Miss Thompson, a further ten points each have been deducted for showing disrespect by talking in my class.' With a wave of his wand, the contents of Marietta's cauldron disappeared. Cho wanted to comfort her friend, but knew better than to do so in front of the unfeeling Potions master.

That class had, all in all, been quite as terrible as the Ravenclaws had anticipated. Once the time had passed by in which they had to create the Draught of Peace, sixty points had been cruelly taken from their house. To make matters worse yet, they had been presented with an impossibly long essay that needed to be completed by their next lesson which took place on Friday. The majority of the students in the room glared at Marietta, seemingly under the impression that she was to blame. Cho wanted nothing more than to reassure her friend that Snape was, just as always, being unfair but when she turned to do so, she noticed that she had disappeared from sight.

'Poor Marietta,' Cho breathed, glancing around helplessly for her friend.

'To be honest, I don't know why you put up with her,' Isabella said sternly, but Cho ignored this.

There was no point in denying Marietta's bitter personality, but somehow her state of resentment seemed far worse than ever before.

* * *

_**September 7th, 1994**_

_My first week back at school isn't over yet, but now I really understand what they meant when they said the workload would be colossal. I really have no idea how I'm going to complete all of this work that's been set, least of all Potions; once again, Snape has taken to taking off points from every house with the only exception of Slytherin. It's all so unfair, if you ask me. Slytherin should be banned from winning points from their house because of him, if you ask me._

_Surprisingly though, school work is the least of my worries. Marietta's been acting rather differently these past few days, and I'm worried about her. If anything, she's been gossiping far less than normal and she seems either angry or sad whenever I'm around her. I hope she'll let me know what's bothering her soon, because I really can't seem to recall whether or not I've done anything wrong._

* * *

There was nothing Cho wanted more than to be outside in the afternoon sun, whizzing at a relaxing speed on her Comet 260. If she closed her eyes for just a moment, she imagined that an intense Quidditch match was unfurling and that she, much to the delight of everyone, was the first to catch the golden snitch and win the game. No part of her longed to linger in the Ravenclaw common room in a secluded corner, desperately trying to complete at least half of her school work before dinnertime. Her friends, too, had scattered themselves around the room so as not to be distracted by idle chatter with one another. Frustrated though they were at the work load, all of them were eager to pass their O.W.L.s if they had the opportunity.

'Excuse me?'

The dreamy voice took Cho by surprise. In an instant, the bottle of ink slipped from her grasp and parchment scattered onto the floor. She exhaled in frustration, waving her wand in an attempt to clean up the mess but much to her humiliation, she only managed to make matters worse. The ink on the rug spread and she gave up on her endeavour to clean it up for the time being.

'Luna,' Cho greeted shakily. 'You scared me.'

'I know,' Luna said with a smile. 'I apologise. That wasn't at all my objective, but at least now I have your attention.'

'I suppose you do,' she conceded, 'but I can't imagine why you'd want my attention in the first place to be honest.'

'Is it true that you're that Cho Chang girl?'

'Yes,' Cho answered. 'But I'd prefer it if you could just call me Cho.'

'You're quite popular amongst the Ravenclaws, you know,' she pointed out in a sing-song voice. 'I was just wondering if you could do a little favour for me. You might be able to help me a little more than I can help myself at any rate.'

Cho's brows furrowed in response. 'What sort of favour are you asking of me, exactly?'

'Oh, it's nothing too out of your comfort zone,' Luna assured. 'I only presumed that since you seem to be quite good friends with a lot of people that you wouldn't mind perhaps recommending that the other Ravenclaws should help me find my possessions when they miraculously disappear off the face of the planet.'

Her stomach lurched at those words as her mind wandered to a pair of Luna's brightly coloured shoes. She had been there when Marietta considered that it would be worth any consequences to steal some of Luna's belongings. Cho swallowed and wished that she'd advised against it.

'And while you're at it, perhaps you could assist me in selling some Quibblers,' Luna suggested gleefully, waving a magazine in front of Cho's face as she did. 'There's going to be a few special Triwizard editions and father would be delighted if more people were interested in buying it.'

For a moment, Cho considered the idea of the younger Ravenclaw. It would be a wise and undoubtedly polite decision to help Luna. She thought it through, knowing that the favour was admittedly a small and harmless one. Yet when she parted her lips to answer, Cho hesitated for a moment. If she helped Luna, then the people in her house who had taken to hiding the girl's possessions would be disappointed and possibly even outraged at her. She pictured the bitter faces of her friends as they yelled at her, telling her that it was reckless that they had ever trusted her. The thought of losing the most important people in her life worried her beyond what she could describe.

'Listen, Luna. I would really love to help you out, but would you mind if you didn't let anybody know that it was me doing it?' she asked, checking hastily over her shoulder in case anybody had listened in.

'Don't worry,' Luna said, positively beaming. 'I promise I won't tell a soul. Daddy's going to be so proud when he finds out. I'd really appreciate it if you could start helping me by the end of the day.'

There was no time for Cho to object, for the girl had waved quite merrily at her and skipped away. Her stomach gave an uncomfortable lurch at the mere prospect of somebody else finding out. It wasn't as though she was concerned about her popularity. For the most part, it was something that Cho had maintained that she despised. Yet the thought of the disappointment her friends would surely feel if they discovered that she was helping none other than Loony Lovegood made her uncomfortable. With a nervous glance at her friends, Cho poured her books into her bag and made a beeline out of the Ravenclaw common room, away from the quizzical glances that her friends sent in her direction. She would clean up the mess that her ink had made whenever she returned.

* * *

When night time crept closer, Cho was quite relieved that there was an excuse for her to emerge from her hideout. She had taken refuge between two bookshelves in the Library and with the exception of Madam Pince hovering over her like a hawk, it proved to be quite a peaceful way to power through her school work. It was peculiar how suddenly her life had changed from the moment that she'd stepped into Hogwarts this year. Other years, she had been accompanied by her usual group of giggling friends as they slowly but surely completed work but for the sake of the O.W.L.s, they had taken to studying independently. That worried her and though she couldn't place a finger on why, it felt as though life would never be the same again.

Cho hugged her school books closer to her chest as she walked on, determined to make her way to the Great Hall before the majority of the students in case Marietta was there. The afternoon had passed by slowly and regardless of who she asked, no one seemed to have seen her friend at all.

'Long time no see,' somebody whispered into her ear and she looked up in pleasant surprise to find Cedric Diggory towering over her.

'Hello Cedric,' she greeted with a smile. 'Shouldn't you be studying?'

'You're worse than my mother,' he laughed. 'Aren't I allowed to eat?'

'Oh, no, of course you are. I've just been a little carried away,' she professed, somewhat guilty and embarrassed. She sincerely hoped he wasn't under the impression that she didn't want to spend time with him.

'What's going on?' he asked with a concerned frown. 'Are you alright?'

'I'm fine,' she assured. 'It's Marietta. She was upset after Potions this morning and I haven't seen her since.'

'Marietta?' Cedric asked, bemused. 'Is she your friend? The girl with the reddish hair?'

'Of course she's my friend. Why wouldn't she be?'

Cedric waved his hand, indicating that the matter was unimportant. 'Well, if it makes you feel any better, I saw her not that long ago and she seemed fine to me.'

'Were you talking to her?' she inquired with a smile that didn't quite meet her eyes.

'No, she was talking to someone else,' Cedric explained. 'But anyway, I was meaning to ask you something, actually.'

'Oh? Is it about the tutoring?' Cho smiled, the subject of Marietta forgotten. 'I understand if you're too busy for it. Really, I can't imagine how stressful the last year of school's going to be.'

'Actually, I could really do with a break from my own work,' he said. 'So I was wondering if perhaps on Saturday morning, you might be interested in me helping you out with your work? Not that you need it, of course.'

'Believe me, Cedric, I definitely need it,' Cho affirmed.

'Well then, I guess I'll see you on Saturday, right?' With that, Cedric smiled and waved goodbye, before he swiftly walked off to join a group of his friends-she wished he was a little less busy.

Cho almost considered rushing to tell her friends the news, but when the thought of their teasing words occurred to her, she thought better of the act. Rather than telling her friends where she intended to go on Saturday morning, she instead opted to keep it to herself. It was a relief that perhaps the lessons that Cedric was going to offer her would help her with her O.W.L.s. Any inhibition she had about her fifth year was gone and replaced entirely by a soothing confidence.

Soon, she would have the chance to spend time with Cedric without anybody incessantly gossiping about her. The simple thought made her smile.

* * *

It seemed that time was quite unwilling to pass. From the moment that Cedric had approached her with the news that he would tutor her on Saturday morning, the remainder of the week crept slowly by. Her excitement at the prospect of spending time with him diminished somewhat at the thought of Marietta, for every opportunity she may have had to talk to her was lost. For reasons entirely beyond her, the girl avoided talking to any of her usual friends. She sat far away from the Ravenclaws in class, returned to her dormitory late at night and woke up far too early in the morning. Isabella and Lucinda had warned her not to care, yet Cho could not help but feel worried about her friend.

'I don't understand why you're so concerned about her,' Isabella admitted as she flicked through the Daily Prophet without looking up to acknowledge her.

'She's my friend,' Cho defended. 'Not to mention, she's your friend as well. Haven't you considered that there might be something wrong with Marietta?'

'Cho, the only thing that could possibly be wrong with Marietta is that she's run out of things to gossip about,' Lucinda added in and lowered her voice to a whisper, though Marietta was sitting some fifteen people away from them. 'We've told you, Cho, she's horrible. Why don't you just let her be? It'll be better for all of us.'

'You guys don't know her like I do,' Cho said.

'Did I mention that she's jealous? Isabella asked.

'Jealous?' her eyebrows shot up. 'About what?'

'You and Cedric, of course,' Lucinda stated matter-of-factly.

'What's there to be jealous about me and Cedric?'

'I don't know…' Isabella trailed off thoughtfully. 'How about Saturday morning? Your little date.'

'Date?' Horror fell on Cho's face. 'How did she even hear about that? And it's not a date. He's just tutoring me.'

'Which is as good as a date in Marietta's eyes,' Isabella pointed out.

'I'm going to go and talk to her.'

Cho looked up just in time to see Marietta leaving the Great Hall unaccompanied. She didn't bother picking up her school bag and she certainly didn't care about finishing her half eaten breakfast. Rather, she bolted after her the girl in spite of the objections that her friends called out after her. A mixture of frustration and sadness engulfed Cho. She had always thought that across the years, Marietta trusted her. She had known, of course, that her friend loved to gossip but never had she avoided her for any rumour she ever heard. It was unbelievable that only now, Marietta would attempt to abandon her simply for being tutored by Cedric Diggory.

It took her a while to catch up with the girl but when she came into sight, Cho picked up her speed. Marietta must have noticed, for she too set out at a run. Cho couldn't help but recognise how childish this all seemed, yet at the same time no part of her wanted to believe the words of her friends.

_We've told you, Cho, she's horrible. Why don't you just let her be? It'll be better for all of us._

'Marietta, hold on!' somebody called out and Cho realised that the words had escaped her own lips. She was even more surprised to find that the other Ravenclaw girl came to a sudden halt. 'Why are you avoiding me?' she asked, half outraged and half relieved, as she finally caught up to her friend.

'Avoiding you?' Marietta's eyes widened in dismay. 'I don't know what you're talking about. We were never friends in the first place.'

'Marietta—what?' Cho's expression was as perplexed as she felt. 'We've been best friends since our first year.'

'Really?' Marietta asked. 'Because last time I heard, you're good friends with Loony Lovegood.'

'I don't know what you're talking about,' she said. 'I don't even talk to Luna.'

'Then what's this?'

To Cho's confusion, Marietta extracted a crumpled piece of paper from her bag. She accepted it and the very moment that her eyes rested upon it, she struggled not to laugh. Quite suddenly, she was overwhelmed with mingled amusement and anger, for on the paper was a quite terribly drawn picture of herself. It read, in oversized writing:

**CHO CHANG**

**CHIEF ADVOCATE OF THE LOVEGOOD ASSOCIATION**

'You're really going to believe something that comes from Luna?' Cho asked, not even needing to read the article to know what it says. 'And not just that, you believe something from the Quibbler? Marietta, you know you're smarter than that.'

'Apparently, I'm not. I was going into the common room to talk to you a few days ago and you seemed pretty happy to be talking to Looney,' Marietta snapped. 'I can't risk my popularity with you, Cho. Not if Lovegood's a friend of ours all of a sudden.'

'I'm not friends with Lu-_Looney_,' Cho huffed. She felt herself tremble with frustration. 'I only offered to help her find some of her stuff because people like you keep on stealing them. Which isn't very nice, by the way. I'd do the same for you if it were Looney stealing your items.'

'People like me?' Marietta let out, appalled. 'Is that what you're calling me now? Whatever, Cho. I don't need people like you in my life.'

'Marietta, you know that I didn't mean it like that,' she insisted and thought just for a second she saw a trace of agreement on the face of her friend. It faded soon after.

'Yeah? Well, we can't all be smart like you now, can we?' Marietta folded her arms, her expression filled with rage as she looked at anything but Cho.

'Is this about Professor Snape?' her brows rose in surprise as the question escaped her. The whole concept that Marietta would let the Potions master upset her was outlandish.

'It was embarrassing, alright?' Marietta confessed, the loathing on her face now dissolving into hurt. 'You don't understand what it's like. People love you, Cho, but the moment that I do something wrong everyone decides to chuck a hissy fit at me.'

'A bit like you're doing now,' she pointed out and was pleased when Marietta laughed, though quietly, at her words.

'It's not that I want to be popular. You've told me a thousand times how awful it is,' her friend explained. 'All I'm saying is that it would be a little bit easier if less people hated me and more people loved me.'

'Then you should probably consider being nice to people for a start, rather than shooting everybody down who tries to befriend you,' Cho suggested. 'Come on, Marietta, come to class. You can start with that today.

But to her disappointment, Marietta shook her head. 'I think I'll skip class today. Perhaps go to the Hospital Wing or something. Can you tell Flitwick I'm sick?'

'I can't lie to a teacher, Marietta,' she said but at the murderous glare she received, she changed her mind. 'Alright. I'll tell Flitwick that you're not feeling very well.'

Without the slightest attempt to offer a single word of gratitude, Marietta turned on her heel and walked off, not in the direction of the Hospital Wing, but instead after a boy who had just walked by. Cho blinked in near astonishment. She could have sworn for a moment the person that Marietta had been so insistent to follow was the Ravenclaw Quidditch Captain, but she was quite sure the two loathed each other. In the end, Cho merely shrugged to herself, aware that her friend was likely to be intent on torturing the boy with mere words. Yet, just as she had planned to make her way to Charms, something caught her eye. Circling its way towards her was a large owl, black and swift despite how old it appeared. Cho held it on her hand and was impressed when it landed smoothly on her fingers. The owl hooted in delight as she tore off the paper and opened it.

_Hi Cho, _

_I realised that we never planned when or where we're going to meet for tutoring._

_How does the Library at eight sound?_

_Send me your response on the back of this parchment._

_Cedric._

Cho memorised the time and place that the tutoring would take place, then scribbled her response as instructed. Yet as she sent off the owl once more, a thought occurred to her that seemed to entice something not unlike disappointment in her. She had envisioned that the tutoring would not involve actual teaching at all, but instead would give her the chance to get to know the seeker of Hufflepuff. Now that she thought the situation through and considered that they would be in the Library, she knew all hope was gone for that to happen. That thought soon passed though and was replaced by a new one. That Cedric cared enough about how well she did at Hogwarts to the point where he had offered to help her was more than what she ever could have asked her.

With that thought in mind, Cho languidly set off in the direction of her Charms classroom. The morning had turned out to be better than she had anticipated. She had, to some extent, filled the void that had separated an unreasonably upset Marietta from her and what was more, she had received confirmation that she would definitely be meeting up with Cedric tomorrow morning.

It didn't even occur to her just how easy it was to make amends with Marietta, or how unlikely the story that it was Snape who upset her sounded.

Nonetheless, Cho's intentions to arrive at class as early as she could were short lived. She'd been walking quite mindlessly through the corridor, weaving her way through the few students who occupied it and turning corners where necessary. In fact, she had been just about to reach her destination when she felt she heavily collided with somebody. For a moment, everything went blurred as books spilled from the other's hands. With embarrassment etched into her expression, Cho mumbled an apology and scrambled to pick up the fallen books. It took her a moment to sweep them all into her arms and she noticed two fumbling hands trying to help her. Once she had a firm hold of the items, Cho straightened herself upright and looked at the person she had collided into. At the moment that she saw him, her eyes nearly widened in surprise and the breath in her lungs seemed to leave her.

'Oh, hello Harry!'


	3. A New Road's Beginning

_My name is Layla Stark, the author of The Hogwarts Eagle_

_I believe that I have a little bit of explaining to do. And when I say "explaining" I actually mean that I owe all of you an apology. It had been my intention to update my FanFiction as soon as possible, which ended up to be a little bit late. Life, for me, has been a little bit strange over the past couple of weeks. There's been some good things, but ultimately some occurrences kept me from updating sooner. First of all, I've officially graduated high school and on top of celebrating, leaving twelve years of my life behind me feels a little bit strange. Secondly, I went away to celebrate for a bit. When I came back, I returned to the news that someone I knew (although I was not close with her, nor do I ever think I talked to her) passed away. The news left me shaken and a close friend of mine was very much impacted by the loss, so naturally I have not had the energy to update. Finally, I was working towards a writing competition but I didn't finish it in time, so sadly those 8000 words went to waste._

_With that being said, I'm back now and I'm happy to return. My updates from here on in will be quicker, and I should hope that there aren't any unforeseen unfortunate events that should happen in the meantime. Thank you to everyone to left your reviews and I truly hope that I still have your kind support. It means a great deal more than I can put to words._

_Spread Love,_

_LS  
x._

* * *

**THE HOGWARTS EAGLE**

_- Chapter Three: A New Road's Beginning -_

* * *

'The Standard Book of Spells, Grade Four?' Isabella wondered aloud from where she sat beside the unlit fireplace. As her brows creased slightly, the girl studied the book in her hands with utmost curiosity and bewilderment. She turned it over twice before she sent a questioning look in Cho's direction. 'What exactly are you carrying this around for?'

'Sorry?' Cho looked up momentarily to see Isabella flicking through the pages with great care, as though damaging the book would be a sin. In the end, Cho merely shrugged. 'I must have packed it by accident.'

'Really?' raising her brows in disbelief, Isabella placed the book in front of her. 'Because it looks brand new to me.'

'What can I say?' asked Cho as she jotted down notes for Defence Against the Dark Arts. The thought of the subject made her shiver involuntarily as she half paid attention to her friend. 'I just really like to keep my books in perfect condition.'

'So, your name is Harry Potter, then?' Isabella inquired with brilliant nonchalance.

'What are you talking about?'

'This isn't your book,' finally, Isabella grinned and swiftly flung the object towards Cho, who caught it seconds before it fell to the ground. 'It belongs to Harry Potter.'

The words seemed to garner quite the amusing reaction from her friends. From where they worked, their quills instantly stopped scratching against parchment while pages of books ceased turning. With little subtly, they all peered at the scene before them while they tried and failed to smother their grins of anticipation. Cho attempted to ignore the stares as she gazed at the book, trying to conclude how and why it had fallen into her hands.

* * *

'_Oh, hello Harry!'_

_In the very instant she comprehended who she had collided into, her heartbeat seemed to accelerate to what could have been a potentially dangerous speed. She had always been present when her friends had animatedly discussed the possibility of befriending the Boy Who Lived purely to bombard him with questions about his scar. Nonetheless, she had never anticipated that perhaps one day she might have had the chance to experience an encounter with him. Rather than engaging in those conversations with her friends, she had opted to sit by indolently and listen in to their fantasies. Yet here she was, unexpectedly faced with the very boy himself._

'_Cho, hi. S—sorry,' he stammered. 'Wasn't watching where I was going.'_

_Although the expectation to properly meet him had not existed inside her, out of mere curiosity she had envisioned what Harry Potter might be like. She had presumed that being a Gryffindor meant that he was somebody of great courage. Supposedly he had somehow defeated You-Know-Who on more than one occasion, come face-to-face with a mass murderer called Sirius Black and had an aptitude for breaking innumerable school rules. The Harry before her seemed far from confident but instead seemed to shift from one foot to the other in unease, a sight that she was most surprised to witness. _

'_Don't worry, I wasn't looking where I was going either,' Cho assured with a smile that she hoped would comfort him. Instead, it made his cheeks blush all the more crimson. 'I saw you at the Quidditch World Cup, didn't I?'_

'_Oh,' he seemed taken aback that it had been mentioned. 'Yeah, you did. Did you… you know, enjoy it?'_

'_I did,' she admitted. 'I was so worried that Ireland wouldn't win though. That Viktor Krum guy is really talented.'_

'_Yeah,' Harry agreed. 'Yeah, he is.'_

_Cho's eyes shifted towards Harry's hands. They were an indication of his nerves, for he seemed intent to fiddle with each of his own fingers. When he spoke, his voice trembled noticeably with the rest of his body. She wondered if it had been she who had made him so uncomfortable. The particular thought made her feel guilty beyond words. 'Are you having a good start of term?'_

'_Yeah, I am,' he said, though after a pause as he blatantly struggled to find words. 'I should probably be heading off to class.'_

'_Oh, alright then,' Cho simply shrugged. 'I should probably be off, too. Well, it was really nice to meet you Harry.'_

_As Cho waved goodbye at him, beaming with the intention to settle him down, Harry merely nodded in her direction with hesitation. While he walked away in the opposite direction, she studied him as she wondered what and even if she would tell her friends. They all had their own fantasies about meeting him, of stealing him away from Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, believing themselves to be better friends. Perhaps they thought that befriending him would increase their own popularity and maybe, just maybe, they were indeed right. _

_Yet she could barely bring herself to want to admit to them that she had just talked to him, however brief and truthfully awkward it had been. Harry had undoubtedly been uneasy at the prospect of conversing with her and though she wished she could talk to him again, no part of her wanted to intimidate him further. Her friends would surely be outraged if she mentioned that she didn't even glimpse at the lightning bolt shape on his head. _

_Cho hugged the books closer to her chest, not realising that they didn't belong to her, and settled that she would avoid mentioning that she had met Harry Potter at all._

* * *

'Oh,' Cho muttered as she finally put the books down. 'I found these on the way to Charms. I was meant to give them back to him, but I forgot.'

It was a simple lie, yet one that each of her friends saw right through. In a split second, she was bombarded with irate questions of why she hadn't bothered to inform them immediately that she had met Harry. Cho sat silently, quite stunned and amused at the persistence of her friends, and waited for their demanding cries of fury to subside before she cared to answer them.

In the end, it was Marietta who had decided to join their group of friends once more, who managed to call quits to their attack of inquiries by screaming at the top of her lungs. The people who littered the common shot her disgruntled looks, all of which Marietta ignored.

'If all of you learn how to shut your mouths for a moment, then maybe Cho might consider spilling the details,' Marietta said grumpily and though her tone upset Cho, she was grateful all the same.

All of the girls nodded in reluctant agreement, rolling their eyes and whispering under their breaths about Marietta.

'It was actually an accident that I met him at all,' Cho said following a momentary pause. The answer seemed to disappoint her friends, all of whom groaned in annoyance. 'We just bumped into each other on the way to Charms. He dropped all of his books.'

'And let me guess,' Marietta started slowly. 'You forgot to give them back hoping you might get to talk to him again?'

'No,' she answered. 'I just forgot to give them back to him. He seemed nervous, for some reason.'

'Aw, how cute,' Lucinda squealed in delight as she buried her face in her hands. 'You made Harry Potter nervous!'

'I doubt it,' Cho confessed, though she wasn't entirely certain. 'Something was probably bothering him already.'

'Whatever you say,' Isabella said amidst giggles. 'So, when are you going to give those back to him?'

Before Cho had the opportunity to open her mouth to answer, somebody else interrupted her. She became quite aware of a shadow looming over her and looked up to find Padma Patil. Padma was a year younger than she was and though they were often in the common room at the same time, the two had never spoken. She seemed blasé, but Cho was certain that the younger girl has listened into their conversation.

'Did you say that those books belong to Harry?' Padma asked and all of the girls nodded in unison. 'Well, my sister's in Gryffindor. I can get her to give them back to him.'

'Oh, really?' Cho asked in genuine surprise, unable to fathom why the fourth year girl had made the offer. 'Well, you can if it's not too much trouble for you.'

'Believe me, it isn't a trouble at all,' Padma declared and extended her hands to accept the book from Cho.

'Hold on, there's a few more,' Cho acknowledged as she shuffled through her bag quickly, extracting all of the books that she knew did not belong to her.

Padma accepted the books appreciatively and promised to ensure that they were returned as soon as possible. Cho offered her own words of gratitude and turned back towards her friends, only to be greeted by their dissatisfied looks. She allowed a sigh to escape her lips.

'Honestly, what did you expect me to say to her?'

'Anything but that would have been fine,' Marietta grumbled. 'You're not the only one who's allowed to meet him, you know.'

'She's probably friends with Harry,' Cho said.

'Really? I've never seen them hang out before,' Marietta said in a matter of fact tone of voice.

'Well, it's better to have her sister do it anyway,' Cho suggested, pulling her belongings closer to her. 'Besides, don't you think Harry would appreciate not having an entire group of girls come up to him just to return a couple of books?'

'Whatever,' Marietta snapped, disgruntled. 'I'm going to meet up with someone. I'll see you around.'

As soon as she had finished speaking, Marietta stood up and rushed out of the common room. Cho readied herself to chase after her friend, but a comforting hand on her shoulder told her to do otherwise. She looked around quizzically at Isabella, who silently told her that Marietta simply wasn't worth the trouble. Finally, Cho exhaled and instead of following her friend like her heart told her to do, she instead ambled in the direction of her dormitory.

Tomorrow, she would be meeting with Cedric, somebody who wouldn't flood her with questions or prise gossip out of her. Though she would never have admitted it aloud, she was relieved that soon enough, she would have a change of company.

She wished that it had been her who returned to books to Harry, or that maybe their conversation could have lasted longer than it had. With one last glance back at her friends, she supposed that she might have greater fortune next time.

* * *

Saturday morning had dawned clear and beautiful. There was not a cloud visible in the sky, which meant that the possibility of a downfall had thinned. The birds outside hummed a joyous tune as they zoomed by for their morning duties, yet aside from that the Ravenclaw common room was silent. Cho was the only person who occupied the surroundings, having crept out of the depths of the dormitory as her friends slept on. Already, she was dressed in her clothes for the day and had gathered the necessary books for tutoring with Cedric as eight o'clock drew nearer.

'You do realise we don't have Quidditch practice this morning, right?'

Cho jumped in surprise at the voice and whirled around on the spot to face her visitor. She exhaled deeply as though to calm herself and smiled at Roger, whose expression was mingled with curiosity and pride.

'Roger, I didn't expect to see you up so early,' Cho stated as she sat down once more, wishing the arranged time with Cedric would finally be within her reach. 'I know there's no Quidditch practice today. I'm meeting up with someone.'

'You're meeting up with someone?' Roger's brows rose suspiciously. 'Shouldn't you be worrying about your work? Marietta said Snape got really upset with you and forced everyone to do extra homework.'

'Marietta said that?' Anger filled her for a fleeting moment, but Cho smiled despite herself and shrugged. 'Snape's always angry with people.'

'I suppose so, but you need to be careful,' Roger insisted. 'If you're not, he'll kick you off the Quidditch team.'

'Snape doesn't have the right to do that,' Cho explained calmly as she turned away from Roger and, without saying goodbye, made to exit the common room.

Roger caught up with her before she had the chance to stop him.

'This is Professor Snape we're talking about,' he pointed out as he strolled by her side.

'Yes, it is,' she agreed. 'But unlike you, I've never had a detention in my time here at Hogwarts. I don't have anything to worry about.'

'Just tell me you'll be careful,' Roger demanded.

'I'm always careful,' she said. 'Now if you don't mind, Roger, I really do have to meet up with someone.'

'Who?' he asked and continued to follow her.

'That isn't any of your business,' she exclaimed. 'Although I'm sure Marietta might tell you.'

'Probably,' he grinned. 'She _does_ tell me an awful lot of things these days.'

'Does she?' Cho asked. 'What's going on between you two, exactly?'

'Nothing.'

Cho looked at him in disbelief and found, to her surprise, that he was not beaming anymore. Rather, he looked quite uncomfortable. She sighed.

'If you really must know, I'm meeting up with Cedric'

'Cedric? Cedric Diggory?'

'Cedric Diggory.'

Roger halted as soon as she had confirmed his suspicions. Any trace of discomfort had left his features and was replaced entirely by boyish excitement. It seemed that a number of ideas had coursed through his mind in that moment and Cho knew instantly what he was thinking.

'It's not going to happen,' she proclaimed.

'Please, Cho,' Roger begged. 'You don't understand how much good this could do you.'

'Roger, we barely even talk about Quidditch,' Cho said. 'There's no way I'm going to betray his trust.'

'But if you just subtly slipped in what he does to make him win a few games, then you could pull out a few of those moves one day,' he explained as he gestured wildly to support his point.

'Why don't we just use our own tactics?' she inquired. 'We'll be remembered more for it.'

'I'd rather be remembered for winning.'

'He's tutoring me this morning,' Cho maintained.

'Tutoring? You?' Roger roared with laughter. 'You don't need tutoring. You're one of the brightest girls in Ravenclaw.'

'I'm certainly not one of the brightest,' she defended. 'And even if I was, even some of the wisest people need help along the way.'

'Listen, if you do this, I'll let you be Quidditch Captain for the rest of your fifth year,' he tried.

'Which is completely pointless seeing as though we don't have Quidditch this year,' Cho reminded.

'Cedric isn't even going to be here next year though, is he? He won't have to know.'

'If it makes you feel any better, I'll think about it,' she lied.

'Good.' Roger finally stopped in his tracks and beamed at her. 'I know you'll make me proud. Have fun on your date, Cho.'

'It isn't a date,' Cho persisted, but it was too late. Roger had already turned to leave with an expression of great triumph.

When she was confident that no one was within earshot, the Ravenclaw exhaled in belief. Roger's ambush had taken away precious time and already, she was a few minutes late. Somehow, although she oftentimes longed to be prompt, no part of her felt embarrassed. There was everything about Cedric that she trusted and she knew that the boy would not be upset with her. Without another thought, she sped off in the direction of the Library, determined to see her Hufflepuff friend once more.

There was one emotion that she had never expected to feel when she turned the corner that brought her to the Library, and that was disappointment. For countless hours on end, she had been excited at the prospect of spending more time with the Hufflepuff, but never had she anticipated that they would have company. Yet, sure enough, Cedric was surrounded by a group of girls each with identical love struck eyes, giggling wildly as they gazed at the uncomfortable looking boy. Cho noticed the midnight blue on their Hogwarts robes and felt herself blush furiously.

'Oh!' Cho placed a hand over her mouth to stifle the sound of her voice, but to no avail. Every head in the vicinity turned towards her and while her friends made no attempt to stifle their sniggers, Cedric looked sincerely apologetic.

'Cho. Erm,' Cedric pulled his upper arm free from Marietta's grasp and sidled towards her. 'I'm sorry, I didn't realise…' he lowered his voice after glancing at the group of girls. 'I didn't realise you wanted your friends to come, too.'

'I didn't,' Cho admitted, equally appalled by their presence. 'I thought they were all asleep.'

'Did they want to be tutored as well?' He asked. 'Because I can go and ask a few of my other friends to come over here.'

'Actually, I don't think any of them want to be tutored at all. I think they just came here to see you,' Cho declared as she shot a glare at her friends.

'Me?' Cedric's brows shot upwards in surprise. 'Why did they want to see me?'

Cho bit her lips and thought for a moment, not at all taken aback by the modesty of her friend. She couldn't bring herself to confess why her friends had opted to come along, though. The truth would mortify not only Cedric, but herself as well. Yet all the same, she couldn't stand the thought of her friend attempting to tutor her while the group of Ravenclaw girls whispered in her ears, begging for her to initiate a kiss or at the very least, a hug. As she searched her mind for answers, a satisfied smile crept upon her lips.

'On second thoughts, maybe they do want to be tutored,' Cho suggested. 'You wouldn't mind getting those friends of yours, would you? And make sure that they're all girls.'

'Okay,' Cedric agreed slowly, yet he was still blatantly confused. 'Why do they have to be girls, exactly?'

Cho simply shrugged her shoulders. 'Just don't keep them waiting too long, otherwise they'll be worried they'll never make it through fifth year.'

To her great delight, Cedric just nodded and hurried out of the Library, leaving Cho alone but for her once thrilled group of friends, who now all looked troubled as to why the Hufflepuff had left. She smiled, maintaining her nonchalant façade, and took a seat beside Marietta.

'It's nice to see all of you here,' Cho claimed as she took out her books.

'Where did Cedric go?' Lucinda asked, looking quite hurt that he'd left.

'Oh, he's just gone to get some more parchment,' said Cho. 'He didn't know all of you wanted to be tutored as well.'

'We don't,' Marietta defended. 'It's not fair that you get to stare at him all morning. We didn't want to miss out on the glory, you know.'

'So you're just going to sit here and watch us?' she asked.

'Well, we'll be watching Cedric most of the time,' Marietta stated innocently. 'It's not like you two would be getting much work done, anyway.'

'We would if all of you would just leave us in peace,' Cho tried.

'There's no chance of us going, Cho,' Lucinda professed. 'Cedric's just too good looking for us to resist. I'm sure you can empathise.'

'Just don't distract him too much, please.'

To Cho's satisfaction, she was certain that none of the girls would have the opportunity to humiliate Cedric at all. Her hopes were affirmed ten minutes later when Cedric reappeared, this time accompanied by a group of seventh year Hufflepuff girls. In contrast to Cho's friends, the girls were able to act appropriately around him. Not one of them giggled in his presence, or teased him when he waved at Cho and no one gazed longingly at him in the hopes romance would instantly blossom. Rather, they all looked slightly disgruntled to have been awoken early on a Saturday.

'I figured all of you wanted to be tutored,' Cedric announced when he drew nearer. 'But I'm no teacher, so obviously I can't handle helping all of you out. So I've brought along some friends of mine.'

He gestured towards his friends, who glanced with disapproval at the group of far too delighted Ravenclaws.

'As I promised,' he continued, 'I'll be tutoring Cho. You'll have one person each to teach you some basic fifth year knowledge. And if you really enjoy being tutored, my friends have agreed to come back next Saturday morning, where you'll all be sticking to the same tutor that you had this week.'

It took all of Cho's willpower not to laugh and to her amusement, Cedric's friends seemed to find the situation slightly entertaining now.

'You'll all go into separate parts of the Library where none of you can be a distraction to one another,' Cedric said, pointing to the possible areas in which they could study. 'Right, then. All of you'd best get to work now.'

That Cho had opted for Cedric to call upon his friends turned out to be a curse just as much as it was a blessing. Every Ravenclaw girl seemed to share the same disgruntled expression, to which Cho barely managed to stifle her laughter. At the very least, they would know better now than to intrude on moments that she had initially intended to be kept private. All the same, she never had the chance to share what could have been a personal conversation with Cedric, for the countless onlookers made both of them relatively shy. Rather than learning new information about one another's lives, once a good hour and a half had passed by, Cho had learned basic fifth year Potions, Transfiguration and Charms.

'You've done well,' Cedric commented, tone low as they left the Library side by side. Their friends were just out of ear shot, or their aggravation at the situation was yet to have faded and they wished to not walk in step with Cho.

'Thanks,' Cho said with a shrug. 'But I couldn't have done it without you.'

'And you couldn't do it without your very enthusiastic group of friends, it seems,' Cedric laughed and Cho joined in, but the former seemed to be more half-hearted.

'Is something wrong?' Cho asked, brow furrowed in curiosity.

'No, it's just that…' Cedric trailed off, doing anything in his willpower to look at anything but her. 'Just be careful with those friends of yours, alright?'

Cho, utterly missing the point, giggled in surprise. 'Don't you think it's you who should be careful with them?' She inquired. 'You're the one that they're after, not me.'

'I guess so,' Cedric said with a shrug and smiled weakly. 'Anyway, I'd better be off. I'll see you around, Cho.'

That morning, Cho returned to the Ravenclaw common room feeling a peculiar mixture of elation and disappointment. On one hand, she'd had the chance to spend part of her day with Cedric. Yet on the other, she couldn't help but think that asking him to tutor her had been everything that she had planned. Her friends had invaded any possible privacy they may have had. Needless to say, the Ravenclaw girl spent the most part of the day speculating about what he had meant, and how the morning might have progressed had the Ravenclaws not interrupted the tutoring session before it even started.

_Just be careful with those friends of yours, alright?_

* * *

_**September 9**__**th**__**, 1994**_

_I mentioned earlier that I had the chance to be tutored with Cedric and to say the very least, it was an absolute mess. I showed up having been pestered by Roger to fish out some details about Quidditch from him so I was already a little annoyed, but it only made matters worse to find that my entire group of friends were there._

_I thought, to say the least, that it would have been a brilliant idea to have him fetch some of his girl friends to tutor them. In retrospect, that wasn't one of my brightest plans. At first, I thought they'd be annoyed at me. Now they seem to maintain that it's sweet that I'll do anything to be alone with him, which I maintain isn't true. Cedric's just a friend to me, and a very good one at that._

_With that being said, there has been some goodness over the past few days. For the first time, I met Harry Potter. He was a lot shyer than I expected, in light of having heard both good and bad stories about him. Actually, to be completely honest, he was really, really nervous. Despite that, I'm delighted to have finally had the chance to talk to him and I certainly hope the time comes when I get to do so again. He seems like a genuinely nice guy._

* * *

With a tired yawn, Cho placed her quill atop the mahogany table and cursed the prospect that she had risen early yet again. If truth be told, the common room was unpleasantly lonely at this time. Her friends remained fast asleep, ever unwilling to return to their classes for the day ahead and the only company available to her was an owl that hooted indignantly at the window for its owner to arrive.

'Be quiet,' Cho hissed, although only managed to cause the owl to grow more infuriated. She stood up suddenly, prepared to close the window and send the owl away, but a voice that floated from the opposite end of the common room stopped her.

'Hello, Cho Chang.'

As realisation dawned on her expression, Cho turned around to face her guest. To her near dismay, Luna stood there, her dirty blonde hair hanging over her shoulders. It took everything in her willpower not to laugh, for it almost seemed as though Luna had created her own pyjamas to wear at night. She wore a hideous, light pink night gown with uneven sleeves that read "Have A Nargleless Sleep", bright purple socks that reached her knees and what she could have sworn was a face mask made of some potion or another was smothered across her cheeks, nose and forehead.

'Erm, Luna,' Cho started, her eyes scanning the girl's outfit with confusion and amusement. 'Those are interesting clothes you have on.'

'Yes, they are quite interesting,' Luna agreed with a bright smile as she fiddled with the hem of her nightgown. 'It's all designed to ward away the nargles, as well as unseeable creatures of the night. My fellow roommates laugh at me for it, but they'll be the ones who end up horribly ill when they're older.'

'Oh, I see,' she said, nodding slowly.

'I can lend you some of mine, if you'd like,' Luna offered. 'I have plenty of spares.'

'No, it's okay,' Cho interjected quickly. 'Actually, I wanted to talk to you about something.'

'Is it about you being the chief advocate of the Lovegood Association?' Luna positively beamed. 'I knew you'd be happy with that rank.'

'I am. I'm flattered, actually, but…' Cho glanced down hesitantly. 'Well, I just thought that we'd agree to keep things private.'

'We did,' Luna chirruped. 'But you're a good person, so I'd had a feeling that you'd understand.'

'Actually, I'm not sure if I can be involved anymore,' she admitted.

'Oh.' Dissatisfaction fell on Luna's expression. 'Is this because you're worried about what people think of you?'

'Something like that,' Cho shrugged. 'Listen, Luna, I really don't want to do anything to ruin my friendships with them. I'm sure you can understand.'

'Do you mean that you don't want to risk your friendships or your popularity?' Luna looked affronted. 'I'm sure I can find more willing candidates, but to be honest I always thought you were a good person. It seems I'm not right about everything, after all.' With those words spoken, Luna turned on her heel and raced for her own dormitory, leaving Cho alone once more.

She sighed and slumped back into her seat. This school year had proven to be quite the unusual one already, and she wasn't even that far into it. If anything, it seemed that her friends were gossiping more, but they were conversations that she was involved in less and less. The haunting feeling that she was the topic of their discussions made her nervous, in spite of the fact that they accompanied her almost everywhere she went if ever they had the opportunity. With the sudden approaching of Luna Lovegood in her life, as well as already disappointing the girl, Cho couldn't help but feel as though she had done wrong in the world.

The event may have seemed unlikely, but every part of Cho hoped that the Triwizard Tournament would bring some comfort to her.

'Somebody knows how to upset Loony Lovegood.'

The unfamiliar voice startled Cho who despite her emotions a few minutes ago had discovered that company was something she no longer sought out. She turned around and at the moment she saw the slightly amused expression of Padma, her frustration diminished and she smiled at the younger Ravenclaw. The two may have been separated by their age, but at the very least they shared no qualms with one another.

'So it seems,' Cho agreed as she settled back into her seat, grateful that she was with Padma and no one else. 'Did you manage to get those books back to Harry?'

'Parvati and I saw him, so yes,' Padma said and took a seat on the arm of the chair. 'I was meant to talk to you about that, actually. You don't mind that I did that, right? Only, Marietta said that you were really angry.'

'Really?' Cho blinked in surprise. 'I wasn't angry at all. I was a bit confused, mind you. If anything, they were the ones who were upset.' She gestured in the direction of the dormitory, where her friends were surely fast asleep.

'My sister really _likes _Harry,' Padma said with a giggle. 'But then again, don't we all?'

'He seems nice,' she stated offhandedly, suddenly uncomfortable with the direction of the conversation. 'So what classes do you have today?'

'But the thing is, Harry seemed really flattered that you had his books,' Padma went on, ignoring Cho's question. 'As in, it almost seemed as though he was going to fall over on the spot when your name was mentioned, but fortunately for us he is at least a little bit classy.'

'What do you mean by that?' Cho asked as her heart thumped and her mind raced.

'Nothing, nothing. I just think you're a very lucky girl,' Padma announced as she stood up once more, stretching. 'I'd say he was disappointed that you didn't bring those books back to him, but then again I can't read minds.'

'I don't understand what you're talking about,' Cho insisted.

'But just for the record, it doesn't mean that we're all going to stop being crazy for Harry just because you're fortunate enough to make him go speechless,' Padma explained as she walked away from Cho.

As the figure of the younger Ravenclaw disappeared around the corner, Cho merely sat in the same spot with a look of utter bewilderment on her expression.


End file.
